Healthcare assistants shake-up

Healthcare assistants 'doing job of medical staff'

Some healthcare assistants are doing jobs which should be done by doctors or nurses without formal training, a review into the profession has found. A review into the profession, initiated after the Stafford Hospital scandal, said the responsibilities of care assistants has become confused:

Healthcare assistants have no compulsory or consistent training, and a profusion of job titles.

Some HCAs are now doing jobs that used to be the preserve of nurses, even doctors.

The review met a group of healthcare assistants from a busy A&E who are inserting IV drips, taking blood and plastering. Yet they are paid at three levels below a newly qualified nurse.